What is OK to post here [ Was Re: [TriLUG] OT: windows firewall ]

[Joseph Mack]

Tanner Lovelace wrote:

>
> Otherwise, this is not an appropriate trilug post (just like
> asking about battery disposal is not).

Most of you understood the reasoning behind my OT request about windows, 
but some of you missed the point.

I should have said:

I know and care little about windows, but for various reasons
I have to put a windows box on the internet and I don't want
it hacked and becoming a DDoS zombie. It would be inconsiderate
of me to come up on a windows mailing list and say "I'm using 
windows only under duress, but I want to take your time to 
educate me anyway". Not knowing what the windows people know 
and expecting that they don't know what I want, it is possible 
that their answers won't be useful to me. So my question here on
the TriLUG list is

"What do Linux people use for a firewall when they have to put
a windows box on the internet?"

I got the information I wanted from the replies. Thank you all.

However Tanner dinged me for an inappropriate posting for this 
list, it not being relevent to Linux. A few hours later Tanner 
replied to a posting about Solaris and LDAP, which didn't have 
anything to do with Linux, with a useful answer. He didn't ding 
this person for an inappropriate posting.

I have been dinged 3 times recently by Tanner for inappropriate 
postings, one of which threatened to cut off my posting privileges. 
In all 3 cases, I got suitable, informative and helpful replies 
from other people on the list, who didn't have any problem with my postings.

Looking to figure out what's going on I went to the TriLUG mailinglist
subscription page

http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug

where I read

"The list is open to all people interested in Linux.
...we ask that you be courteous in your posts, 
and refrain from personal attacks and using profanity."

Other than being for people interested in Linux, there
are no restrictions on the material being posted.

I notice that Tanner is quite happy to personally attack 
people (Matt Frie) on the mailing list, for which he has
not apologised and which he defended in a later posting.

It seems that TriLUG and the mailing lists are for Linux users,
and not only about Linux. There are mailing lists only for Linux
and this is not one of them.

If TruLUG was only about Linux, then you wouldn't be able to
post about gnu/OSS software (gcc, glibc...), hardware, 
or programming languages.

To check I looked at past programs, presentations put on by 
TriLUG to see if they were Linux only. My test was whether
the presentations would be out of place to users of other
OS's, eg MAC, *nix, *BSD, Windows.

Non Linux only events sponsored by TriLUG http://www.trilug.org/events.php

Basic Shell Programming


Non Linux meeting presentations
http://www.trilug.org/meetings.php

(I notice that an Apple Airport wap is made available at meetings)

DNS
Multiplatform GUI programming.
Oracle Cluster File System
Open Source as a Worldwide Revolution,
LDAP
RADIUS
OpenNMS
Perl/Tk
SlickEdit
OpenPGP
Talk by Eben Moglen and another by Eric Raymond.

Looking at recent TriLUG mailing list postings 

humor
drinking beer (at meetings and other places)
picnics
Robotics
LDAP on Solaris
tracking usage of windows machines
corrupt ports
latex, docbook
OpenVPN on windows
SSL Certs
Auto MDI/MDI X properties of modern switches
Techsector comeback
Hyperthreading on Xeons
ntp
Trusted Software
Hardware forsale
in search of hardware
gmail
cat5 cable
offshoring and Safeco
top -v- bottom posting
detecting wireless access points

All of these are of interest to Linux users at least judged
by the replies and none of these have caught the ire of Tanner.

I would like to continue to make postings to this list without
having Tanner think that he's the adjudicator on suitability here.
The participants in this list seem to have already done a reasonable
job in letting people know what is suitable.

Thank you

Joe
-- 
Joseph Mack PhD, High Performance Computing & Scientific Visualization
LMIT, Supporting the EPA Research Triangle Park, NC 919-541-0007
Federal Contact - John B. Smith 919-541-1087 - smith.johnb at epa.gov